Author: Taichi Nakatani
Interaction:
We might be experts at interacting with computers, but that doesn't make us experts at designing interactions between other humans and computers.
What is HCI:
Reference:
Learning goals:
Learning outcome: "To design effective interactions between humans and computers"
Learning strategies:
New application areas:
Learning Goals:
PPP Table
Test Case: Tesla interface screen
Processor model: Strictly observe user's behavior (e.g. timing)
Predictor model:
Participant model:
Takeaway: We'll use all of these models at different times and in different contexts
We might start with a participant model where we just ride around with users watching what they do.
Based on that, we might observe that they spend a lot of time fumbling around to return to the same few locations.
So, then we might redesign an interface to include some kind of ‘bookmarking’ system, and present it to users in interviews.
There, they might tell us that they like the design, but further note that they don’t need a long list of bookmarks -- they really only need work and home.
Based on that, we might then design an interface where a simple swipe takes them to work or home. Then, we might test that with users to see how much more efficiently they’re able to start navigation when these kinds of shortcuts are provided.
The results of each design phase inform the next, and different phases call for different types of evaluation, which echo different models of the user.
So, keeping in mind everything we’ve talked about, let’s design something for Morgan. Morgan walks to work. She likes to listen to audiobooks, mostly non-fiction. But she doesn’t just want to listen, she wants to be able to take notes and leave bookmarks as well. What would designing for her look like from the perspectives of viewing her as a processor, a predictor, and a participant?
Gulf of execution: How hard is it to do in the interface what is necessary to accomplish those goals? What’s the difference between what the user thinks they should have to do, and what they actually have to do?
3 Components:
Example: Microwave
Gulf of e valuation: How does the user becomes aware that their action succeeded.
3 Components:
Example: Thermostat
7 questions to bridge the gulf of execution / evaluation:
Norman also further articulates this by breaking the process into phases that span both execution and evaluation.
Tying it to KBAI:
What is the problem with the framing of the problem?
The right answer is: We shouldn't be thinking just about swiping or inserting a card, we should be thinking about the general purchasing process.
Lesson Goals
Lesson Outcomes
Assessments
"In order to design interactions that are better than existing designs, it is important to take into consideration the user’s needs at every stage of the design process."
ISO - Six principles to follow whwne pursuing user-centered design
"User-centered design isn’t just about catering to the user in the middle, but also in looking at the impact of our design on all the affected stakeholders."
Examples:
User = Teacher (uses gradebook), Secondary = Parents (receives gradebook), Tertiary = Students (affected by grade)Reference: “The Inmate Are Running the Asylum” by Alan Cooper
"In HCI, we’re designing interfaces to accomplish goals, and then based on the output of our evaluations with those interfaces, we judge whether or not the goals of the interface were accomplished. Then, we repeat and continue."
"In many ways, we’re doing the same things that our users are doing: trying to understand how to accomplish a task in an interface. "
Quantitative Data: observations described or summarized numerically. Quantitative data involves anything numeric.
Qualitative Data: observations described or summarized non-numerically.
Uses:
Infamous studies:
Response:
See document link below for explanation of:
Before we start our needfinding exercises, we also want to enter with some understanding of what data we want to gather.
In order to do some real needfinding, the first thing we need to do is identify the problem space.
Significance: We want to understand who we’re designing for.
Audiobook example:
"Differentiate whether I’m designing for business people who want to be able to exercise while reading, or exercisers who want something else to do while exercising."
- identify these different types of users, and perform needfinding exercises on all of them.
- Reference: Doing Cultural Studies by Hugh Mackay and Linda Janes.
Definition: Fly on the wall approach. Note down what people are doing, and let that guide the design.
Definition: Be a participant in your own study.
Significance: Look at hacks users employ.
Errors:
Significance: Use ethnography (living close to users you're studying) to understand domain knowledge necessary to design new interface / improve the user task.
Definition: Ask users to talk about their perceptions of the task in the context of the task (while they're doing it).
5 Tips of Good Surveys:
Definition: Needs that our final interface must meet.
User data requirements:
External Requirements:
Definition: Direct manipulation is the principle that the user should feel as much as possible like they’re directly controlling the object of their task.
Invisible Interface: When the interface actually disappears . Users spends no time thinking about how to engage with the interface, all their time is dedicated to thinking about the task they're performing.
Hutchins, Edwin & Hollan, James & Norman, Donald. (1985). Direct Manipulation Interfaces. Human-computer Interaction. 1. 311-338. 10.1207/s15327051hci0104_2. https://www.lri.fr/~mbl/ENS/FONDIHM/2013/papers/Hutchins-HCI-85.pdf
Significance:
Definition: distance between the user’s goals and the system itself. Encompasses gulf of execution/evaluation.
"...the feeling of directness is inversely proportional to the amount of cognitive effort it takes to manipulate and evaluate a system”."
"The user starts with some goals, translates them into their form of expression in the interface, and executes that expression. The system then returns some output in some form of expression, which is translated by the user into their understanding of the new state of the system."
Definition: Providing the user the feeling that they are directly controlling the objects.
"The systems that best exemplify direct manipulation all give the qualitative feeling that one is directly engaged with control of the objects--not with the programs, not with the computer, but with the semantic objects of our goals and intentions."
Examples:
Apple touchpad actions, which are direct engagements:
Significance: "Direct manipulation isn’t just about designing interactions that feel like you’re directly manipulating the interface. It’s also about designing interfaces that lend themselves to interactions that feel direct."
Example: Stylus vs mouse - stylus makes the gulf much narrower to the point of the interface becoming invisible.
Good vs Bad Design of "invisible-ness"
Significance: Interfaces become invisible not just through great design, but also through users learning to use them.
Goal: Users should feel immediately as if they’re interacting with the task underlying the interface.
5 Tips fo Invisible Interfaces
Challenge: How would we design an invisible interface for universal remote control, one that doesn’t have the learning curves that most have?
Takeaway:
Information processing model:
Visual
Auditory
Haptic
Q: How to alert someone when they receive a text message, without disturbing others.
Solutions: Smartphones have cameras and light sensors - use that to determine where the phone is to determine what type of alert to use. (This could lead to a lot of surprise though).
3 kinds of memory:
Definition: very short term, less than a second.
Baddeley & Hitch's model of working memory:
Definition: Capacity for holding a small amount of information in an active, readily available state for a short interval.
"Chunking" - bits of short-term memory. We can only hold 4-5 chunks at a time.
Takeaways:
Definition: Seemingly unlimited store of memories. But harder to put something in there. Generally need to put it into short-term memory several times.
Leitner system: A way of memorizing key-value pairs (ie. flashcards).
"When we design interfaces, we are in some ways hoping the user has to learn as little as possible to find the interface useful. "
2 Kinds of Learning:
Definition: The amount of working memory resources used.
2 major implications on designing interfaces:
Example: Programming
Significance: In designing interfaces, we’re also interested in what is physically possible for users to do. Includes how fast / precise they can take an action (e.g. tapping).
Example: Spotify control widget